The Pool of Bethesda

Dr Daniel Pearce, a surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, diagnoses himself as suffering from a brain tumour. The tumour brings on hallucinations, and Pearce’s fascination with Hogarth’s painting of Christ healing the sick at the pool of Bethesda (which hangs in the Great Hall of the hospital) manifests itself in his dreams. Shifting between the present day and the 18th century Hogarthian world, Pearce imagines himself as a doctor at St Bart’s asked by Hogarth to pose as Christ for his painting. But weighed down by his own failure to cure his patients or even himself, his dream takes the shape of a comic nightmare. This play may contain scenes, language and issues of an adult nature.